Chapter 78 : Lu Qingan is so scared that his legs go limp

The next day, Su Mo was awakened by the loud shouting of her second brother-in-law.

The Lujia Village Brigade had kept 10 pigs to share the meat. This time, 4 pigs were slaughtered first to distribute the meat and satisfy everyone’s cravings. The remaining 6 would be killed before the New Year, and the meat would be shared then for the New Year.

These pigs were well-raised. Every pig that arrived at the purchasing station weighed more than 140 kilograms, and some even weighed over 160 kilograms.

Although the remaining 10 pigs were a bit thin, there were still over three months until the Chinese New Year. If they were raised until then, they could become big fat pigs, each weighing more than 160 kilograms.

Now that she was awake, Su Mo decided not to stay in bed any longer. She got up and went to check on the vegetable garden. Sure enough, there was a little frost. It seemed like she would need to cover the garden with straw at night.

The temperature in the north drops quickly. Once the cold air hits, the temperature falls rapidly. Su Mo had taken out her quilt to cover herself before going to bed last night.

Su Mo estimated that at this rate, it would snow within a month at the latest.

She increased the flow of her supernatural powers into the vegetable field, trying to accelerate the growth so it could be harvested within half a month. After all, the vegetables had been planted for half a month, so it wouldn’t be too unusual to harvest them in a little over a month.

She planned to cut the cabbage while it was tender and pull up the radishes while they were still small.

If anyone asked why her crops grew so well, she would just say the land hadn’t been cultivated in a long time and was very fertile.

With a yield of 10,000 kilograms per mu in front of her, her vegetables just grew a little faster than others. That wasn’t such a big deal.

It hadn’t taken her ten days or half a month to grow, just a little more than a month. Greenhouse vegetables in later generations grow at this speed, so it didn’t violate the laws of plant growth. Even if people from the Agricultural Research Institute came to study it, they wouldn’t find anything strange.

For breakfast, Su Mo simply cooked some egg noodles using the noodles from her space.

After eating, Su Mo continued to knit a sweater. After last night’s work, she had already knitted two-thirds of one sleeve.

She planned to finish knitting it today. When the meat was nearly divided, she would go and see if there was any left. If there was, she would buy some and make mushroom meat sauce to send to Lu Changzheng.

Li Yue’e went to line up for the meat early in the morning. This time, she asked for four pounds: two pounds of pork fat and two pounds of pork belly. The pork fat was for making oil, one pound of the pork belly would be eaten at home, and the other pound would be given to the third brother’s family. She had no extra meat to share.

After receiving the meat, Li Yue’e carried the basket directly to Su Mo.

“Third daughter-in-law, you don’t have any meat , so your mother will bring you a pound,” Li Yue’e said as she entered the house.

“Mom, there’s no need. I’ll go to the brigade to buy some later, so you can take it home and eat it yourself,” Su Mo replied, sitting on the kang knitting the sweater and quickly sticking her head out to refuse.

“We killed fewer pigs this time, and there won’t be much left after dividing it up. All you can buy are bones and such. Take it. We’re family, so don’t be so polite,” Li Yue’e said, placing the meat on the chopping board before leaving.

By the time Su Mo got off the kang, everyone had already gone far away.

Su Mo looked at the meat on the chopping board and felt a warmth in her heart.

Was this what it meant to exchange sincerity for sincerity? She had been kind to the old woman, and now the old woman was thinking of her.

Su Mo decided to make more mushroom meat sauce and send some to the old woman. If there wasn’t enough meat, she could use the meat in her space and buy more later.

It was mid-morning when Su Mo went to the brigade headquarters with a basket. As expected, there was nothing left, just bones.

Su Mo asked for two large bones to make soup. She also bought a few ribs. The ribs at that time were not like those in later times with lots of meat; the meat was mostly removed. Then she asked for half a pig’s head, which weighed about three or four pounds.

The ribs and bones together cost 50 cents, and half a pig’s head cost 80 cents, totaling 1.3 yuan.

Pig heads were cheap and had a fair amount of meat, so many people wanted them. However, these were typically reserved for those who helped with slaughtering the pigs.

Su Mo didn’t know this, so she just asked for one. The person in charge of selling the meat was smart. When he saw that Su Mo wanted it, he hesitated for a moment before selling it to her.

Therefore, Su Mo managed to buy half a pig’s head thanks to her multiple identities as the secretary’s niece, the branch secretary’s daughter-in-law, and the officer’s wife.

After the meat was distributed, the whole village was filled with the aroma of freshly cooked meat. Once Su Mo returned home, she lit a fire in the small stove, took out the four pounds of pork fat she had bought earlier, cut it into small pieces, placed it in a casserole, and put it on the stove to boil the meat oil.

She continued working on her sweater until mid-afternoon, when she finally finished it.

The meat oil had already been boiled and had cooled and solidified by the time she finished knitting. Su Mo took out a newly bought enamel jar, washed it, and dried it. She scooped a cup of lard into it, covered it with a lid, tied it tightly with straw, and placed it into her space, planning to send it to the cowshed later. Eating some animal fat occasionally could be considered eating meat.

Su Mo stored most of the remaining lard from the casserole in her space as well. She would use it occasionally to stir-fry vegetables and would also store the lard residue to make dumplings later.

After finishing these tasks, Su Mo began to handle the items she bought that day.

After cleaning the pig’s head, Su Mo placed a large casserole on the small stove, filled it with cold water, added the pig’s head, and the necessary marinade ingredients to prepare the braised pig’s head.

She also took a few large potatoes from her space and added them to the pot once the pork head was almost braised.

Then, she started preparing the mushroom meat sauce.

Since she was already making it, Su Mo decided to make extra. She took out four pounds of the five pounds of meat from her space, made the sauce, and sent some to Lu Changzheng. She also gave some to the Lu family, the cowshed, and Geng Changqing.

The last time she had dinner with Geng Changqing, there wasn’t anything particularly delicious, so it would be nice to send him some mushroom meat sauce to go with his rice.

Good cadres should be taken care of!

Just as Su Mo was making the sauce, the postman arrived at the brigade headquarters on his bicycle.

After distributing the meat, the brigade cadres were staying at the brigade headquarters, discussing how many people should be sent to dig the canal. By this time, the discussion had finished, and everyone was preparing to go home.

Lu Qing’an came out, saw the postman, and asked with a smile, “Is there another letter for our team today? There have been quite a few letters recently.”

The postman nodded and replied, “There’s a telegram for Su Mo. I’m delivering it to her. Please let her know to come pick it up.”

“A telegram? Where’s it from?” Lu Qing’an asked.

“From the Shenyang Military Region,” the postman answered sympathetically. Telegrams from military regions usually weren’t good news.

“Where?” Lu Qing’an’s voice rose.

“From the Shenyang Military Region,” the postman repeated.

Suddenly, a chill spread through Lu Qing’an’s body, and he felt as though all his strength drained away.

The Shenyang Military Region was where his third son was stationed. Thinking that his son had been urgently summoned or that a soldier in the brigade had passed away, and now the troops had sent a telegram…

Lu Qing’an staggered a few steps. The postman was startled and quickly supported him.

“Secretary Lu, what’s wrong?”

“Give me the telegram. Su Mo is my third daughter-in-law. I need to see her,” Lu Qing’an’s voice trembled as he spoke.

The postman knew that Secretary Lu had a son serving in the army, but he hadn’t realized that Su Mo was his son’s wife.

The postman looked at Lu Qing’an with sympathy. After handing him the telegram, he tried to comfort him, “Maybe it’s not bad news.”

Lu Qing’an took a few deep breaths, then, with trembling hands, opened the telegram.

Upon reading it, he saw just a few words written on it:

“I have returned to the team safely. I miss you and look forward to your letter.”

Lu Qing’an: …

What a scoundrel. If he wanted to talk to his wife, he could just write a letter instead of sending a telegram. He almost scared his father to death.